The New Healers

An introduction to gene therapy, a branch of molecular medicine which may lead to cures for over four thousand currently incurable genetic diseases including cancer and AIDS. Clark introduces the reader to the elements of molecular biology necessary to understand this new branch of medicine.

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Human beings have in the region of 100,000 different genes encoding the molecules needed to build and operate the human body; defects in any one of them can lead to disastrous consequences. There are an estimated 4000 genetic diseases, which can be every bit as devastating as the diseases caused by bacteria or viruses, and in one way they are much worse: we pass them on to our children, generation after generation after generation. This text is the story of the devastation these diseases cause, and of the scientific researchers and doctors who struggle to combat them. Science and medicine have provided us with clues to the treatment of a few genetic diseases, although by their very nature they have never been considered curable. But, the author shows, that is about to change through one of the most profound revolutions in modern medicine: gene therapy - a branch of the new field of molecular medicine. Clark takes the reader to the laboratories which have been able to isolate human genes, to make billions of copies of them, and to reintroduce healthy genes into individuals who have inherited damaged or functionless genes.